Tau Hu Recipes

Whenever I'm at the Asian grocery store, I buy large quantities of fresh yuba (tofu skin) whenever it's available. If you've wanted to try a vegetarian meat substitute but were suspicious it would taste bland, I urge you to try these yuba stuffed mushroom appetizers.

If you're not familiar with yuba (tàu hũ ky in Vietnamese), this food product is the film that's formed on the surface after boiling the soy beans in water. I bought ready-to-use fresh yuba, so all I needed to do was season it. I made a mixture of rice vinegar, brown sugar, cornstarch, garlic, ginger, tahini, yuba, five-spice powder and black sesame seeds.

The assembly was very easy. I stuffed the yuba filling into hollowed crimini mushrooms and garnished the appetizers with sunflower seeds for extra crunch. Voilà!

The simplicity of this dish is what is remarkable about the versatility of tofu. A drizzle of soy sauce and the addition of freshly steamed jasmine rice makes the most delicious meal. Who could ever say tofu is bland and tasteless?

I hope you all had a fun-filled New Year's Eve with your friends and families. What did you do to ring in the New Year? We had some family time at home. It may sound lame, but we watched "Murder on the Orient Express,"trying to solve Hercule Poirot's investigations (it’s so much easier when you’ve seen the movie like a dozen times ) while enjoying all the baked goods the girls and I have been concocting all week.

2012 was an incredible year for me. I feel so blessed and lucky, watching my daughter grow into an adorable toddler. And then there’s the publication of my first cookbook. I am so grateful for all the blessings that I have in my life. Thank you so much for your love and support. Here’s to making 2013 as unforgettable as 2012!

Back to today's dish. The girls' resolution is to lose as much weight as I did last year when I was working off my baby weight. I'm helping them by cooking healthy, yet still flavorful meals. One such concoction is today’s recipe: light red kidney bean patties wrapped in crispy bean curd. The filling is made of mashed kidney beans with panko breadcrumbs. The legume provides a sufficient amount of protein so the girls have enough energy throughout the day and the crispy outer layer provides a pleasant contrast of texture. For a healthy and complete meal, serve it with some brown rice and a dash of soy sauce. Enjoy!

Tàu hũ cari is a Vietnamesedish that I consider comfort food. It has a wholesome coconut taste and creamy texture that pair wonderfully with toasted baguette or freshly steamed jasmine rice. Traditionally though, lemongrass tofu curry is high in calories. I attempted to cut down on the heaviness without sacrificing flavor, so instead of using coconut cream, I used a combination of coconut soda and plain yogurt in addition to a generous amount of galangal.

If you try this recipe and enjoy it, you'll be happy to know that there are many other versions of Vietnamese curries. I included a potato dish in my upcoming book, Haute Potato, which you can preorder now from Amazon (shameless plug ). The book will be out on December 18th and I really hope you get a chance to cook with it, learn from it, and share your experiences with me here on PhamFatale.com!

Yuba is called tàu hũ ky in Vietnamese and it's a fairly common ingredient in the Buddhist vegan diet. Most meals resemble and have the texture of meat, and yuba often plays the key role of meat substitute in the dish. I was surprised to discover that Costco now carries this product. Lulu sampled the yuba strips and liked them, so I brought home a package.

I used the ready-seasoned spicy yuba strips and made a stir fry of various vegetables such as sugar snap peans, cauliflower, onion wedges and cucumbers freshly picked from our garden.

My husband Lulu noticed that the Marketmore cucumbers he planted two months ago had started to produce. It's so pleasant getting new vegetables every day. I'll show you our beautiful bounty of beets, cucumbers and zucchini soon. Our tomato plants are already 5 feet tall but the fruit hasn't quite ripened yet. I love California!